Cameco Says Utilities in China Stockpiling Uranium

Cameco Corp., the world’s second- largest uranium producer, said power utilities in China are continuing to stockpile uranium, making them the market’s single-largest group of buyers.

Utilities in China have bought an estimated 8 million pounds of uranium, the raw material in nuclear-reactor fuel, on the spot market this year, said George Assie, Cameco’s senior vice president of marketing.
“Keep in mind they have 13 reactors under construction,” Assie said today on a conference call with investors and analysts. “The stockpile there is for a very specific reason and that is to feed those reactors under construction.”

Uranium purchases by Chinese utilities this year confirm the world’s most populous country is becoming a more significant force in nuclear-fuel markets, said Dustin Garrow, a Denver- based executive general manager of marketing for Paladin Energy Ltd., the world’s ninth-largest uranium producer.

“There’s no question the Chinese will become more active buyers as they increase their installed nuclear capacity,” Garrow said. Chinese activity in uranium spot markets was “minimal” last year, he said.

China, which has about 8,587 megawatts of nuclear-power capacity, is actively building enough new reactors to boost capacity by 15,360 megawatts, Garrow said, citing data from the World Nuclear Association.

Bloomberg